In the now seemingly likely event of a slow recovery from the Covid-19 recession and high levels of unemployment, the government will need schemes to manage insolvency for households at risk of being unable to pay their debts. What types of support will be most effective? UK government intervention to support households during the Covid-19 […]
Category: Families & households
The Covid-19 crisis presents a potentially major setback for gender equality with its effects likely to persist long after lockdown has ended. Why have women borne such a heavy economic and caring burden – and will the negative impact persist? The Covid-19 crisis looks set to expose the fragility of the gains in women’s employment […]
More than a million 0-4 year olds stopped attending childcare during lockdown. This led to them missing out on social and educational opportunities, parents struggling to balance work and childcare, and financial losses for childcare providers. The prospects for the sector are highly uncertain. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, around 1.4 million 0-4 year olds attended […]
To improve the efficiency of UK energy use and reduce carbon emissions, one key area for action is the country’s housing stock. The required retrofit is a massive financial and physical programme. An early initiative of this kind in Glasgow’s tenement buildings offers lessons on how to make it work. Reducing the use of fossil […]
Unpaid care places additional strain on many households’ finances. At a time when budgets are already under intense pressure, the rising cost of living is likely to cause bigger problems for those providing or receiving support because of frailty, disability or ill health. The cost of living crisis is not affecting all households equally. For […]
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Does rent control work?
Rising rents in UK cities has brought rent control policies to the forefront of political debate. The Scottish National Party/Scottish Green Party coalition has recently proposed a nationwide system of rent controls, in an attempt to make housing more affordable. Rents have been rising steadily in most of the UK’s biggest cities, making rental housing […]
How has the division of family responsibilities for childcare, housework and home schooling been affected by lockdown? While the extra burden of ‘home production’ has fallen more on women, new ways of working may encourage a more equal allocation within households in future. People are spending much more time at home during lockdown. This has […]
Lockdowns have been followed by a surge in domestic violence. It is vital to understand the impact of unemployment, income loss and time spent at home to assess the remedial potential of cash transfers compared to initiatives such as shelters that can help women to escape. Social distancing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic […]
Online spending naturally became a bigger share of total UK household consumption during lockdown. While offline spending has risen since restrictions eased, there is early evidence of a ‘new normal’ in which online spending is roughly 25% higher than its pre-pandemic level. There is a widespread belief that the Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the shift […]